Review: Hubris

“The orders Alexandros gave his youngest daughter were simple—retrieve something lost to him and kill those who laid eyes on it.

The consequences, however, are much more burdensome. With the threat of a purge of humanity and the destruction of everything that Telese and the other Sirens have sought to uphold for billions of years, her job—and possibly her very life—are nearing a violent end. As her father furthers a dark agenda that is shrouded in secrecy from even the Sirens, Telese must choose: allow him to control their fate to the bitter, inevitable finale, or fight back.

Enlisting the help of the self-serving Dark World along with the weakening Light World amidst their eternal war and convincing the fearful Sirens to rebel against the man who has threatened them with torture and death their entire lives are only the beginning. To save the Sirens and humans from his veiled intentions, she must stop Alexandros, himself. But how do you stop the one who writes the rules for all of existence?”

Review:

Telese was the last child in a long line of Sirens, born to be a creation that would serve the purposes of her greedy father. She was born to a hateful relationship and her father had never taken kindly to any of his daughters, however he hated Telese the most as her mother tried to protect her from him. This is evident from the beginning and sets the stage.

I really truly enjoyed this story and can’t wait for more! It ends with a set-up perfect for the next book!

The characters were from all over the world with features and cultures matching the places they were “serving” their father’s wishes. I think that was important, as well as the crossover to the reality of war, social issues, and other happenings. I appreciated the fantasy with the reality, in a Harry Potter/Twilight/Vampire Diaries type way (real world setting, mythological/fantastical characters and features).

One things that took me a while to get used to was the changing of perspective. It was distracting at first, but only because I wanted to follow Telese and Mortimer more closely and that made the other perspectives frustrating. It didn’t take away from the story and how it played out, though. I also wasn’t sure about shift from the focus on the book to war, which was realistic, but it felt like the book disappeared for a while and was almost unimportant. I don’t know how Hines could have done that differently, it was just something I noticed.

It was extremely refreshing to have Sirens that were not water bound or out for the destruction of man kind. It was a neat new twist on the world of mythological creatures and the story of creation.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. It was well written, well researched, and incredibly enjoyable for anyone that likes action, reality, and mythology!

That’s my problem too! I’m almost always most interested in one (or two) perspectives (if they have an intertwining story line). That leads me to want to skip through other chapters and takes away from the rest of it a bit!